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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5124011" data-attributes="member: 4937">Pretty much exactly.My campaign has the following assumptions:1) Spellcasters over 6th level are rare.  This is the 'PC's must remain special' rule. 2) Conversely, spell casters of up to 5th level are sufficiently common and ordinary that they may be employed just as you would employ any other highly skilled craftsman.  Nobody is suprised by 1st and 2nd level spells.  3) Defensive magic is generally easier or no harder than offensive magic.  This is the 'Magic the Gathering' rule meets the 'NPC's aren't completely helpless in the face of cunning PC's' rule.  Because of the inherent superiority of an active offensive plan of action, if a passive defensive strategy is to be viable it must be more effective than an offensive one.  Hense, combined with #2, defensive magic is common and ordinary.  You'd no more forget to secure your castle against basic magical attack than you'd forget to put a door in the gate.  While only the castles of the most important people would be designed to defend against unlikely threats, every country Baron can afford basic defenses against invisible creatures and magical fire and at least some protection from scrying in his private chambers.  On the other hand, you want to penetrate the residence of the ruler of a 2000 year old empire, and your going to find the magical protection at least as impressive as the obvious walls.  Note further that like the castles of the real world, the goal isn't to make the castle impentratable, but rather to make reducing the castle take long enough that help can arrive and the logistics of the seige are expensive to beseigers.4) Magic has been a part of the setting for a long time.  There is nothing obvious that the PC's (or NPC's for that matter) can attempt that wouldn't have been tried before on many occassions.  Social custom, military architecture, magistrates and the law all assume the existance of magic.  Combined with #2, this means that no one is confused by simple illusions or invisibility in quite the way they would be in our world.  Everybody knows magic exists.  If the dog is barking and scowling and the door is opening on its own, even a moron thinks, "There is something invisible there!"  That might still be realling frightening thought, but any creature with more than 7 INT and something of a backbone tends to have as his next thought, "If the thing was really confident of its power, it wouldn't bother to make itself invisible.  Maybe I can stick a torch to it and make it go away."5) Very high level wizards possessing god-like power tend to keep their heads down, precisely because the gods are not particularly happy with the whole idea of mortals with god-like power.  In particular, in usage of magic that threatens to return the world to 'the Age of Wonders' when high level magic was common, tends to set the gods in a real tizzy.  For example, a high level wizard would know that the gods don't really care if he builds a teleportation network between his sanctum and some other abode for his private use, but would know not try to build an intercontinental teleportation network accessible to everyone.  You can make a flying conveyance for your own amusement, but if you make a fleet of flying carriages and start charging fares beware.  If some upstart king decides to conquer the village you protect, you are perfectly free to teleport his army deep into the Desert of Tears to defend your property, but if you decide that you want to use your magic to create an army for the purposes of creating a new empire don't be suprised if a series of highly improbable events occurs that ends up in your death.</blockquote>

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